Washington is abuzz with preparations for Monday’s inauguration. A number of events, private and public, are taking place.

Among them is something called the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast (PIPB), which takes place Monday morning at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Despite its name, this is not an official inaugural event. It’s sponsored by a variety of fundamentalist Christian groups and “messianic” Jews. Featured guests include TV preacher Pat Robertson, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Joseph Farah, founder of the website WorldNetDaily. Read more

A video that shows U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan plotting to distribute Bibles and preach Christianity to the largely Muslim population there is creating quite a stir.

The footage was shot a year ago by Brian Hughes, a documentary film maker and was recently featured on the English version of Al Jazeera. It shows a band of soldiers stationed at Bagram openly discussing ways to get around military regulations that ban proselytizing by soldiers in Afghanistan. Read more

Prayer at governmental meetings is a never-ending source of controversy. Latest case in point: an ire-inducing invocation at the Kansas House of Representatives last week.

Guest Chaplain Brian Schieber, pastor of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church, took advantage of his place at the speaker's podium to launch a vitriolic attack on reproductive freedom. Read more